Effect of lower facial vertical proportion on facial attractiveness in Japanese

The purpose of this study was to assess the range of the top three most-favored facial profiles for each sex from a series of varying lower facial vertical proportion, and to evaluate clinically acceptable facial profiles for Japanese adults. Silhouettes of average male and female profiles were constructed from the profiles of 30 Japanese males and females with normal occlusions. Lower facial vertical proportions were increased or decreased by intervals of 5% of Sn–Me′ for each sex from the average profile. Forty-one orthodontists and 50 dental students were asked to select the 3 most-favored, well-balanced profiles for each sex. They were also asked to indicate whether they would seek surgical orthodontic treatment for each of the shorter or longer lower facial profiles if those images represented their own profile. For male profiles, both the orthodontists and dental students chose the average profile as the most-favored. For female profiles, the dental students chose a slightly shorter lower facial as the most-favored profile while the orthodontists chose the average profile. The dental students chose shorter lower facial profiles as more acceptable than longer lower facial profiles for females (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that an average lower facial profile tended to be favored overall by Japanese people, whereas for females a slightly shorter lower facial profile was favored by young adults.